


Cruel Summer

by charming_barnes



Series: Lover [2]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Based on a Taylor Swift Song, Fluff, Love Confessions, M/M, Meet-Cute, Oneshot, Song: Cruel Summer
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-07
Updated: 2021-01-07
Packaged: 2021-03-17 22:28:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 740
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28607523
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/charming_barnes/pseuds/charming_barnes
Summary: The whirlwind romance of the century started when a distracted Bucky Barnes bumped into a man attempting to bully a vending machine into dropping his bag of doritos. Now, normally, Bucky would mumble an apology, look away, and walk faster, but the way that the man was arguing with the machine was too much to ignore.“Come on, please?” he said, apparently switching from arguing to pleading. “I just want my chips, I’m so hungry.”Unsurprisingly, the machine was unmoved. Bucky, however, was starting to feel bad for the guy.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers
Series: Lover [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2096196
Comments: 8
Kudos: 38





	Cruel Summer

The whirlwind romance of the century started when a distracted Bucky Barnes bumped into a man attempting to bully a vending machine into dropping his bag of doritos. Now, normally, Bucky would mumble an apology, look away, and walk faster, but the way that the man was arguing with the machine was too much to ignore. 

“Come on, please?” he said, apparently switching from arguing to pleading. “I just want my chips, I’m so hungry.” 

Unsurprisingly, the machine was unmoved. Bucky, however, was starting to feel bad for the guy. 

He tapped the man on the shoulder and said, “Hey, I was going to buy a soda, maybe it’ll knock down your doritos? If you don’t mind letting me go ahead.” 

The man turned toward him with the most convincing puppy dog eyes that Bucky had ever seen, asking, “Could you?” And Bucky’s heart skipped a beat. He turned toward the machine to hide his face and punched in the code for whatever was directly above the stuck chips. Not having any intention of purchasing anything until about two seconds ago, he didn’t really know what he bought until the guy was cheering and handing him a Sprite, triumphantly cradling a bag of cool ranch doritos to his chest. 

“Thank you for rescuing my snack,” he said. His smile turned teasing as he continued. “How can I ever repay you?”

And Bucky heard himself saying, “Maybe I could take you out to a real dinner?” When the man just looked a little stunned, Bucky started to take it back, apologizing. 

The man quickly cut him off with a smile, a handshake, and an “I’m Steve.” 

“Bucky,” he responded, shaking the proffered hand. 

“So, Bucky, where are you taking me?” Steve asked. Bucky… had not thought that far ahead. At all. He stared at Steve blankly for a second before his eyes lit up. 

“Pizza?” he suggested. 

Pizza turned into ice cream, which turned into drinks when neither of them wanted to go home. Steve explained somewhere around their third slices of pizza that he was only visiting on a business trip from his home in Los Angeles, and would be flying back to California soon. Bucky took this fairly easily, as it hadn’t been quite long enough for him to realize just how much he liked Steve, forgetting almost entirely by the time they were ordering ice cream.

Finally agreeing to go home--together, of course--in the very early morning, they stumbled into a cab, leaning hard against each other’s shoulders and snickering whenever they caught the driver’s eyes in the rearview mirror. 

And then, in the middle of a laugh, Bucky remembered that Steve was leaving. He quieted for a second before bursting into tears, startling both Steve and the cab driver. 

“Bucky, sweetheart, what’s wrong?” Steve asked, blue eyes clouded with concern. 

“I’m fine,” Bucky said through tears. 

“No, you’re not. What is it?” Steve asked again. 

“You- you’re leaving tomorrow morning, and I’m never gonna see you again,” Bucky sobbed, “And I- I love you. Ain’t that the worst thing you ever heard?” 

Steve looked up, grinning like a devil, all traces of worry gone from his face. 

“What if I just stayed?”

“What?” Bucky asked. 

“What if I stayed?” Steve repeated. “I hate my job, I don’t have any friends, and I miss the city. Why not?”

“You can’t be serious,” Bucky said, still sniffling. 

“But I want to be close to you,” Steve said. The cab driver was glancing in the rearview mirror as if he was watching an episode of some TV show, but neither one noticed. 

“You’ve known me for less than twelve hours, Steve,” Bucky pointed out as if he wasn’t practically a Disney princess, falling in love with a man he just met. 

“I know,” Steve said. “Like six hours and I’m already so happy with you, Buck. I don’t want to leave. Ever.” 

Bucky’s muddled brain struggled to form a coherent thought, so he settled on “Let’s talk about this in the morning, when we’re not drunk,” which Steve readily agreed to. When they finally reached Bucky’s apartment, he pulled Steve up the stairs, giggling as he fumbled with his keys. Bucky tamped down the feeling that the first kiss over the threshold sealed his fate. They’d have to figure things out in the morning, but in the quiet of the night nothing mattered except the fever dream high. 

**Author's Note:**

> posting this before i stare at it too long, lol. but i guess this is officially a series! next up, Lover!
> 
> as always you can find me on tumblr [here](https://lokiinlove.tumblr.com/) and my other blogs link from there!


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